


Still Waters Run Deep

by the_irish_mayhem



Series: A Spark Within [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempted Kidnapping, Badass Katara (Avatar), Bloodbending (Avatar), Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fire Lady Katara, Fire Nation Lore (Avatar), Post-Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zuko loves his wife
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24826213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_irish_mayhem/pseuds/the_irish_mayhem
Summary: The wrath of a master waterbender is not to be underestimated.Or: The New Ozai Society attempts to kidnap the infant heir to the Fire Nation throne, and are met with the fury of the Fire Lady.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: A Spark Within [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1759237
Comments: 44
Kudos: 620





	Still Waters Run Deep

**Author's Note:**

> No archive warnings apply, but I'd like to put out a brief personal warning on this one:
> 
> Non-spoiler: contains a brief, relatively non-graphic description of some gore.
> 
> Spoiler: contains a brief description of dead bodies with their throats slashed.

**110 AG**

**Year of the Horse**

**The Fire Nation**

Fire Princess Izumi is born at high noon on the summer solstice. 

The Fire Sages are ecstatic--to be born on the longest day of the year when the sun is at the peak of its strength means that Agni smiles upon the birth and is considered a sign of great power and prosperity for both the child and their family. For an heir to the throne to be born under such circumstances? It spells great things ahead for the Crown Princess, and for the Fire Nation as a whole.

Such an occurrence has not happened in the royal family for six generations, and the air of celebration around Izumi’s birth is palpable.

For the Fire Lord, he is simply relieved that his wife and daughter are healthy and hale. The birth, while it causes no small amount of distress for Zuko, goes as smoothly as a first child can. Katara handles it like a warrior, and Izumi enters the world screaming at the top of her small lungs, a tiny purplish and red miracle. Zuko is floored by how small she seems, those tiny fingers with the tiny fingernails fisting in his robes and squeezing. The strength in her cries and in her grip, so startlingly small but unendingly significant. His daughter. His and Katara’s. Theirs.

A few days later, Katara confides in him her utter relief for Izumi to have been born under such favorable conditions. His marriage to Katara, while not precisely an unpopular move, had caused some significant waves throughout the Fire Nation. Crowning a waterbender Fire Lady had rankled many powerful nobles (some of whom had been unsubtly pushing their daughters in his path since the end of the war, even before he’d broken up with Mai). The general population has been more willing to accept the change, but Ozai’s poison still runs deep--even if their attitudes are not always outwardly malicious, uncertainty can often override someone’s best impulses. Given Katara’s difficulties, public acceptance of their children has always been anything but guaranteed.

Despite Zuko’s belief that those cultural norms and superstitions are stupid, he’s canny enough to know that it will make his daughter’s life significantly easier.

(Agni help them if she isn’t a firebender, but that will be another bridge to cross if it comes.)

While her fortuitous birth quelled a good amount of public unrest (even if temporarily), it is by no means quiet. The New Ozai Society is still kicking around after all these years and are likely the source of the spat of new threats directed at the Fire Princess. The clandestine group has managed to avoid being fully snuffed out, much to Zuko’s chagrin, and despite the faith he has in his intelligence network and the guards who staff palace security, he can’t fully dispel the sense of foreboding that has taken root in him.

Months pass after her birth, and the days pass without incident, but it is hard to believe in that sense of security when it’s their daughter on the line. They settle for heavier than usual guard shifts and hope that the threats will ultimately be empty. A last gasp of a dying group of men and women clinging to a bygone era.

There is an evening where Katara is lounging on their bed with Izumi snoozing on her chest. Zuko sits propped up on pillows next to them, a sheaf of papers on his lap as he and Katara discuss their latest economic numbers. It is one of their least favorite things to do, so having a cute baby around while they do it has become one of their best methods of dealing with the task.

“The wage stimulation is going well,” Zuko comments as he looks over the next page of figures. “Not as wildly successful as we hoped, but still really positive for only a year’s worth of results.”

Katara nods. “It’ll take time to equalize debts. I’m guessing once we get the regional and district breakdowns we’ll see some patterns emerge, like reduced eviction numbers. Once people have secure housing, other spending will follow, even if that hasn’t quite started up yet.”

Zuko nods. “Plus, it looks like our benefits initiative is working. Since we implemented family and sick leave for palace staff, there’s been a nineteen percent uptick in private enterprises offering the same thing.”

Katara makes a soft squeal of celebration. “I knew it.” Izumi snuffles against her skin, and she looks down at her daughter. “Sorry, little one. Didn’t mean to disturb you.” 

Zuko reaches over and smooths his hand over Izumi’s tiny head. It’s covered in downy, black baby hair and fits into the palm of his hand. Her head turns towards him, her eyes heavy-lidded with sleep. For a moment, he forgets the task at hand as he gazes at his daughter.

(Every day, he understands his father less and less.)

“Lian said it sounds like the New Ozai Society is gearing up for something big,” he says, apropos to nothing they’d said before but now pressing urgently on his mind. Their head of security’s words are now ringing insistently in his ears as he looks at his daughter’s face.

Katara’s expression doesn’t change save for a thinning of her lips. After a pause, she asks, “Have there been new threats?”

Izumi gurgles and rolls so that she can reach out for her father. Katara sighs and tips her body so that Zuko can take Izumi off her chest.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” he says, settling the baby against his own heart. Having her in his arms makes talking about this subject both easier and more difficult. The threats against himself are nothing new--he’d never really learned to live without the looming risk of some degree of physical harm, anyway. The threats against his family, however, are much harder to swallow.

Katara, at least, is a master waterbender, and a prodigal one at that. She’s defeated countless opponents in combat, including Azula, and demonstrated her competency in defending herself time and time again. Zuko doesn’t relish the idea of putting her in the position to defend herself, but, well. Their lives are what they are, and while it doesn’t entirely settle him, knowing his wife can seriously kick some ass is probably the only reason he hasn’t died from stress ulcers yet. Izumi, on the other hand, is a defenseless child, an infant whose only physical mastery is rolling over and smiling.

She coos softly and reaches out for Zuko’s chin. Her hand is so unbearably tiny. Her pale golden eyes look up intently at him, surprisingly focused.

“The details are sparse,” he continues. “There’s been a lot of rebel activity in the northern districts and quite a bit of vague chatter about something called the Safe Nation Restoration.”

“They should’ve workshopped the name,” Katara says, reflexive. Then she asks, “Is that a new organization to add to the list?”

He shakes his head. “Seems to be a code name for a secret operation. Something involving Izumi. Lian says they’re working on getting more information, but it’s slow going.”

Katara hums quietly, but says nothing.

“Maybe we should go to Ember Island for a while,” Zuko says, “or visit Sokka and Suki. At least until Lian can figure out what they’re planning.”

“We can’t just up and leave any time someone threatens our daughter,” Katara points out. “I like it as much as you do, but we’re in the middle of budget negotiations. Our lives as leaders can’t just stop because a couple of idiots think Ozai or Azula belong on the throne. There are thousands of kids just like Izumi who are depending on the decisions we make. And as much as they get on our nerves, we need the Council to facilitate funding and create infrastructure for our plans.”

Zuko growls. “There are times when being a fascist despot starts sounding really good. I could just order them to give me the money so I can do what I want with it.”

Katara snorts. “You could never. You’re way too honorable.”

“Just wait. There will only be so many times I can hear Ezin say ‘I don’t believe that is a feasible undertaking at this time.’”

She chuckles. “Ezin’s not so bad once you get to know him. He’s just a pessimist.”

A beat passes where the only sound is Izumi, who has taken to mouthing at the front of Zuko’s loose shirt.

“We can put more guards into the rotation,” Katara suggests. “Create a more dynamic set of routes for patrols. We can’t let them drive us off, but I don’t want to leave her safety to chance.”

Zuko nods, stroking a hand down Izumi’s back. “I’ll discuss it with Lian.”

Katara reaches over and removes the budget breakdowns from his lap, where they’ve been mostly forgotten and places the bundle of papers behind her. She curls into Zuko’s side and drapes an arm over his midsection, just below where Izumi rests.

“And if worse comes to worst,” Katara says, a small smile playing at her lips, “she’s got two master benders for parents who can protect her.”

It’s said as a jest, a gentle prod from his wife for him to relax a little, but they have no idea how prophetic her words will turn out to be.

* * *

Izumi is an excellent sleeper. They lucked out in that regard, as Katara wanted to stay true to her Water Tribe roots and have the baby in the same room as them for her first few months of life. Zuko hadn’t minded the strange custom--in fact, he loved it. It made him feel as though he were an actual, proper father in those early days when he’d been scared he’d drop her or otherwise accidentally hurt her in some way.

(And Zuko wonders, yet again, how his father could have ever treated him and Azula the way he did. It still escapes his understanding, and he doubts he’ll ever gain much clarity.)

Izumi had only recently moved into her own nursery next door to the Fire Lord’s and Lady’s chambers.

So when Zuko jolts awake to the sound of his daughter screaming, it immediately registers as out of the ordinary. Sure, she’s had some of the same troubles as any newborn with awakening, but never with such ferocity.

They do have minders for the young princess when they need them, but when there isn’t anything pressing on their schedules for the following morning, they release the minders and take care of Izumi themselves. It’s another Southern Water Tribe quirk that Zuko was only too happy to pick up and made Katara seem odd to the highborn folk but adored by the commoners.

Zuko sits up, the dregs of sleep still draining from his eyes and limbs, and finds that his wife has awoken as well. Much more alert than he, Katara says, “That doesn’t sound like a usual scream.” 

A sliver of tempered suspicion goes through him. “I can go,” Zuko offers.

“Here, let’s just--” She swings out of the bed. “Let’s just both go. If she’s hungry, I’ll take it. If she’s cold, she’s all yours.”

They open their chamber doors and find their guards with their throats slit.

Katara slaps a hand over her mouth. Zuko nearly chokes.

Their palace staff are not faceless cogs to them. They know each and every guard under their employ. Kai just returned from paternity leave, now his blood seeps across the palace hall. Sinda was retired military, and she had just had her first grandchild. Tingting was a Kyoshi Warrior, had studied directly under Suki herself, and had fallen in love with a Fire Nation woman; she decided to stay on as security rather than return to the Earth Kingdom so the two could be together. Bo Xi was brand new, and had only been on the job for a few weeks. All of them, dead on the floor. Some of their most gifted fighters, snuffed like candles.

Zuko meets Katara’s eyes.

Izumi still screams down the hall.

They break into a sprint.

They find the contingent outside their daughter’s room dead, much like their own security detail. Whoever did this--whoever was able to tear through their guard detail like it was butter--are clearly skilled and brutally efficient. Some burn marks, so perhaps there is a bender among them, or perhaps the benders in their security managed to fire off a few shots before they too were cut down.

(He swears he will cut and burn the New Ozai Society out of the Fire Nation like removing and cauterizing infected flesh.)

They throw open the doors to the nursery. 

There are four people there, dressed in all black stealth gear and congregated around the bassinet. One of the figures is holding a screaming, squirming Izumi. They all jump apart and turn towards the doors when Zuko and Katara burst through them.

Zuko’s heart is in his throat.

The assassins don’t look surprised to see them, or unprepared to deal with them. Or--perhaps not assassins, precisely. If they managed to blast through their security with complete silence and ruthless efficiency, they clearly have assassin training, but Izumi is still alive. Her screams were clearly not planned for. Kidnappers then, who don’t know enough about babies to know how loud they can be.

Before either he or Katara can make any moves, the one holding Izumi summons a fire dagger and holds it dangerously close to their daughter’s face.

“No sudden moves,” the figure says, voice deep and masculine, “or the half-breed gets it.”

Zuko’s inner flame goes white hot. How  _ dare _ they? He knows he must be steaming, his breath sparkling with cinders. He hasn’t fueled his bending with anger in a long time, but in that moment, his fire is surging with the heat of his rage.

But the fire dagger hovering threateningly over Izumi’s delicate skin freezes him in place. He knows, intellectually, that if they haven’t killed her yet, they need her for something. Perhaps this is part of the Safe Nation Restoration plan Lian had told him about, kidnapping the infant Fire Princess. However, knowing that they likely won’t kill her does not make him feel any better, or help him think rationally beyond trying to figure out how to beat these thugs without harming Izumi.

That’s when they all start making choking sounds.

Zuko catches a look at his wife out of the corner of his eye.

She’s bloodbending. He hasn’t seen her do it since that night they went after the Southern Raiders years ago. Then, she’d been cold and focused, a deadly force with a singular goal in mind. This time, the look of rage on her face is enough to scare the color off a fire lily. She’s a mother prepared and willing to do anything for her child. He thought he’d already seen Katara at her most vicious, but he was wrong.

She bends three of the intruders to the ground with a sharp gesture downwards, the one holding Izumi still suspended. They all cry out as their bodies are crushed into the floor, first down to their knees, then backwards. They all gasp in pain as Katara forces their backs onto the ground, their bodies folded and held down.

“What--” the man holding Izumi gasps as Katara extinguishes the fire dagger and his arm is twisted back and away from their daughter with extreme prejudice. His shoulder and elbow joints pop with the force of it, and he makes a pained noise.

“What is this?” he cries. “What  _ are _ you?”

Katara ignores him. “Zuko,” she says, voice like ice, “go get her.”

Zuko doesn’t hesitate, dashing forward to snatch Izumi from the man’s frozen arms and immediately cuddling her into his chest. Recognizing her father, her frantic screams fade into plaintive cries. Her small hands curl against his chest, grasping at the light, open shirt. He can feel her breath against his collarbone. His heart races. She’s safe. She’s in his arms and she is  _ safe _ . She’s safe, she’s safe,  _ she’s safe. _

He drops behind Katara, whose eyes are still focused on the man who’d threatened Izumi.

His eyes are wide, and even the small fraction of his face visible to them make his fear and awe obvious. There is no other reaction to this--Katara at her most ferocious, her most dangerous. There is nothing more awe-inspiring than realizing what her kindness is hiding. There is a new strength and significance of her choice to be good when she’s capable of such power and terror. 

He notices then that Katara is shaking.

“There’s no reason for me to keep any of you alive,” she growls. “I can feel…  _ every _ blood vessel in your eyes. I could explode them, just like that.”

The intruders all make sounds of distress, and the man still standing pleads, “Please, we--I’ll tell you everything. Just let--”

Katara sharply gestures downwards, forcing him to his knees and cutting off whatever else he was going to say, and with another flowing move backwards, she brings the rest of the group upright.

This is different from Yon Rha. Vengeance might not be in Katara’s blood, but protecting those she loves with a boiling ferocity absolutely is.

Zuko reaches out from behind her with his free hand and rests it against her shoulder. “I’m with you,” he says softly. Nonjudgmental. He’d like nothing more than to burn these people where they kneel for daring to touch his child, but he knows himself well enough at this point to know that that isn’t him. And killing these men, as much as it might satisfy Katara in the moment, it isn’t her either.

Katara loosens as his touch, and her shaking subsides. Her bending takes on a more polished look, losing that manic edge that had colored it moments prior. She breathes out, and in a downward thrust move that looks very earthbender, she knocks all the intruders out.

She straightens and gasps, and immediately turns to Zuko. He knows exactly what she wants and tips Izumi into her waiting arms.

There are tears leaking from her eyes in two seconds flat. “Oh, my baby,” Katara whispers. She hugs her daughter close, one hand closed around Izumi’s small head. She murmurs sweet nothings to her, rocking back and forth as Izumi’s cries finally fade away. Katara wordlessly steps into Zuko, and he takes the invitation to hold them both, basking in the sweet relief of having his girls safe with him.

“Your Majesties!”

Katara and Zuko break apart to look back--a pair of ranged patrols are there. They must’ve stumbled upon the carnage in the hall.

Zuko tersely orders, “Go wake up Lian. Tell her that there was a kidnapping attempt, and all of our stationary guards on this rotation are dead. We need to lock down the palace immediately. We’ve subdued those responsible and need them transported to Capital City Prison.”

“Right away, your Majesty. You both are unharmed?” he asks.

“We’re fine, Xiong,” Katara says. “Worry about yourselves for now. I doubt there was a larger strike force, but we don’t know that for sure.”

As it turns out, the four Katara knocked out were the only ones in the palace. Lian is in a quiet rage that they were able to get in at all, and she fears that it may have been an inside job. That’s not something Zuko really wants to consider right now.

“We’ll have to tell their families,” he says as the last of the bodies are carried out.

Lian says, “I can take care of it.”

Their head of security is another former military woman, a sergeant whose clever defiances of Ozai’s more outlandish orders earned her scorn from the generals who wanted to see her disposed of. But her distant posting in the Earth Kingdom and balance of skill and lack of outright rule-breaking made her difficult to legally remove from her position. The only open defiances on her record were after Ozai lowered the military conscription age from sixteen to fourteen, and she began receiving more child soldiers meant to fight in the vanguard.

She’s trustworthy beyond compare, and more competent than any single person has the right to be. Normally, Zuko would entrust any task to her capable hands, but this time it feels wrong to pass the duty off on her.

“No,” Zuko says, and looks over at Katara, who nods at him. “We’ll tell them ourselves. Focus on investigating. I want to know how they got in, and how they managed to get so far into the palace. No one’s managed what they did.”

Lian nods. “They might be willing to give useful intelligence.”

“I want you to handle the interrogations yourself.”

“Of course.” She looks at him and Katara in turn, head cocked. “You sure you’re both all right?” Lian is the age his mother would’ve been, and her care always has a distinctly maternal edge.

He answers honestly, “We will be.”

“You two don’t need to be around for this part,” Lian says as several staff begin to clean up the blood spilled on the floor. “Try to sleep. Tomorrow will be a difficult day.”

They bring Izumi’s bassinet into their quarters, but neither of them seem particularly eager to have her out of their grasp.

It’s only once they’ve settled back into their own bed, Izumi taking up residence in Zuko’s arms, that Katara says, “There isn’t a full moon.” It’s a quiet admission, one that takes Zuko a moment to realize the significance of.

“And you were still able to bend their blood.”

Katara nods. She pulls her legs up to her chest and wraps her arms around her knees. “I guess Hama wasn’t the authority on the subject we thought she was.”

“It makes sense,” Zuko says slowly, thinking. “You said your bending was stronger than hers. You might not need the full moon the way she did.”

Katara shakes her head. “I just got so…  _ angry _ .” She pauses and swallows heavily. “I don’t think I’ve ever been that angry before. And I just--” She breathes out deliberately, slowly. “I can’t remember the last time I felt that powerful, either. What I said to them--I wasn’t bluffing. I could feel every single vein in their bodies, and I could feel exactly how I’d have to move to get them to burst.”

“I guess there’s a lot about bloodbending that we don’t know,” Zuko says.

Katara sighs. “I don’t think I really want to know everything about it. I could’ve killed those people, Zuko. If you hadn’t been there, I might’ve.”

“I said I was with you,” he says, “and I meant that. I  _ am _ with you, Katara. If you had killed them, it would’ve been the right choice.”

“They were defenseless and probably have useful information.”

“I’m no stranger to killing,” he says softly, “and neither are you. We know the value of life, and we know the value of taking it away. I trust you to make the right decision, no matter what. And if you forgot, you didn’t kill them. So yeah, I’m with you.”

She sighs. “I love you, you know?”

He laughs softly. “Yeah, I know. I love you, too.”

Katara tilts her hands up so she can look at them, and absently traces the lines of her palms with her fingers. “I don’t like that I can bloodbend. I don’t know if I ever will.” Her hands clench. “But I’m glad that I had it today.”

“I am too.”

She sighs. “I also technically just broke international law.”

“That’s why I asked Lian to handle all the interrogations. If they talk about what you did, she’s got your back.”

They fall silent, and Katara relaxes her scrunched position and stretches her legs out in front of her. Zuko wonders if she might be ready to fall asleep again. Instead she tips her head back against the headboard and stares up.

He can sense she’s trying to find the right words to say whatever is on her mind, so he lets her stew. Izumi is asleep against his chest, so he simply looks down and marvels at her until Katara finally disrupts the silence.

“Are you ever afraid of me?”

“Not anymore,” he says.

“Anymore?”

“Yeah. You beat me into submission I don’t know how many times when I was chasing you guys, plus you threatened to kill me when I first joined the group. When I saw you bloodbend the first time when we were going after Yon Rha I realized that you are one of the most powerful benders I have ever met and you could absolutely follow through on that promise without breaking a sweat.

“But,” he adds, “I also knew you never would. You’re powerful not just because of what you can do, you’re powerful because of what you  _ won’t _ do. Choosing kindness and mercy is hard, but you do.”

“You sound like Aang,” she says, voice thick with emotion.

“He is pretty wise.”

“I just want to be someone she can be proud of,” Katara says, looking down at Izumi. “I want to be the mother she deserves. I want to be a good Fire Lady. I want--” she swallows thickly. “I want to be the kind of person who can help fix the world.”

“You’re already all of those things. Bloodbending doesn’t change that.”

Katara leans over and threads her arms around him. “Thanks. I needed to hear that.”

“I’ll say it as many times as you want.”

They both tacitly agree that sleep is not on the docket for them this night and, with a sleeping Izumi carefully cradled as not to wake her, they make their way to the palace roof. The access door was something they’d found a few years after the war, before they’d gotten together even, and it was always a place of solace and solitude for them.

They stare out across the darkened Caldera and to the city beyond, a few scarce lamplights flickering like fireflies in the blackness. The crescent moon provides barely enough light to see by. The night sky is still shining brightly with stars, but the deep purple on the eastern horizon heralds the slow approach of the sun.

Lian was right--tomorrow will be difficult. Telling the families of those killed isn’t something Zuko is looking forward to. Lian’s interrogation will probably reveal all sorts of things about the New Ozai Society and the goals of the Safe Nation Restoration that won’t be pleasant to hear. He particularly dreads the potential of an inside job.

Just as the sun breaks over the skyline, Katara says into the silence, “I’m with you, too.”

Zuko smiles.

No matter what happens, they will have each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell at me on tumblr if you feel so inclined @the-irish-mayhem


End file.
